Alumni Association Plans Time Capsule as Ten-Year Monument

April 15th, 2011

Images by Art Cox. Photos for poster collages provided by PHC Alumni Association.

CONTACT:

David Halbrook Patrick Henry College (540) 441-8722 OfficeOfCommunications@phc.edu

A photo collage poster in commemoration of PHC's first ten years. This one contains pictures from the College's first two years. Click on the image for a larger view.

When the handsome brick-and-concrete “monument” at the entrance to Patrick Henry College’s circular driveway was initially constructed, Vice President for Campus Services Earl Hall left the top of one pilaster loose. Based on a brainstorm by another of the College’s original employees, graphic designer Art Cox, Hall envisioned the space would one day house a time capsule that would preserve PHC history for future generations. At Homecoming in the fall, the PHC Alumni Association hopes to insert this time capsule into that small compartment and cap the pilaster for the next 20 years.

“It’s the tenth anniversary year—a perfect time to take stock of what God has done and also look to the future,” shares Sarah Pride (Literature, ’07), Alumni Association Vice President. Pride is leading a team that is organizing the time capsule, under the leadership of John Vinci, Alumni Association President (Government, ’05).

A photo collage poster in commemoration of PHC's first ten years. This one contains pictures from the College's early middle years. Click on the image for a larger view.

The 20-year timeframe, while brief, coincides with the Vision for the Future campaign presented by College administration at the College’s Tenth Anniversary Celebration, April 12th.  At that day-long event, more than 500 friends, supporters, and alumni from across the nation gathered to celebrate the College’s short but remarkable history, and to propel it forward into a new decade of growth and achievement. The twenty-year span, says Pride, will allow for significant change on the PHC campus while still ensuring that the contents of the capsule endure in relatively decent condition.

Quoting from the time capsule team’s official mission statement, Pride said: “We hope that the time capsule will ‘tell the story of PHC’s first ten years in a way that unifies our community and proclaims to future generations God’s Faithfulness and Mercy.’

“We knew this was a large project, larger than us,” she added, “and so all of us took a week before we began organizing to pray and consider what God wanted from it.”

Friends of the College enjoy the commemorative posters on display in Founder's Hall during the recent Tenth Anniversary Celebration event.

The time capsule team, consisting of Pride, Vinci, Christina Hansley (Government ’04), Heather Gray (Journalism, ’08), Erica Wanis (Government, ’08), Donna Ross (Classical Liberal Arts, ’04), and Dominique Deming (Government: Political Theory, ’08), outlined a plan for the time capsule based on traditional literary elements of setting, characters, theme, plot, and conflict.

“We wanted to give special weight to those faculty members, staff, and alumni who came to Purcellville, Virginia when our college was little more than Dr. Michael Farris’s vision,” emphasizes Pride, “and we wanted to include at least the name of every alum and every current student, along with some of their dreams for the future.”

The Alumni Association’s project will attempt to weave the stories of every member of the initial faculty, staff, and student body member into a narrative that will be included in the time capsule. As Vinci explains in the official description, quoting Joshua 4:19-24, “The ‘Joshua Generation’ set up a monument to the benefit of two audiences—future generations of Israelites and the world at large. That the world might know that God is mighty and that the Israelites might fear him.”

Click on the poster images in this article for a glimpse into the past of this young, fearless college.

If you are an alum of Patrick Henry College, and you would like to get involved with this project, please ensure that you have updated your alumni account at www.phcalumniassociation.org.